Information has been analysed to provide a regional overview of the aquaculture industry in Queensland. The regions are based on the statistical divisions adopted by the Australian Bureau of Census and Statistics.
The information presented in Tables 20 to 24 was compiled from the annual statistical returns received from licensed aquaculture producers. The totals include all sectors of the industry described in the earlier part of this report.
The results presented in these tables need to be interpreted carefully as they only summarise the information collected from the farms that responded and submitted statistical returns.
The number of returns received varies between years as shown in Table 20. In any one year it may not be the same producers responding and this can affect the trends. Rounding errors can cause minor discrepancies in some of the totals. The main sectors (marine, barramundi, freshwater fish and freshwater crayfish) have a major influence on value and quantities produced.
The total farm gate value of production is highly dependent on marine prawns, which contributes approximately 59% (prawn growout and hatchery) of the total industry value and 55% of the total quantity of product sold. Barramundi is the next most significant industry sector with steadily increasing production. In 2006–07 barramundi growout and fingerlings contributed 26% of the total industry value and 38% of the total quantity of product sold.
Four divisions (Northern, Far Northern, Moreton and Mackay) accounted for the majority of the production. The Wide Bay division also has significant production.
The largest increases in industry value occurred in the Northern division (16%), Wide Bay division (7%) and the Moreton division (6%). The value of marine prawn production in Queensland has decreased by 9% while the value of barramundi production increased by 27% from the previous year.
Mackay, Far Northern and Northern divisions had the majority of the ponded areas in Queensland, with Wide Bay and Moreton also having significant areas (Table 23).
The largest employment occurred in the Far Northern division, which employed over 30% of the aquaculture workforce in Queensland (Table 24). Total employment increased by 15% from 2005–06.
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